page 183: " I dreamed a devilish man came and stole my breath. He stepped through the door with a skin bag strung limp over his shoulder and with dispassionate efficiency crouched back and slugged me in the stomach."
Page 183 Response: This quote relates to the novel Peace Like a River, for that it has the name of the chapter in the text itself. It also relates because it can also been seen to be foreshadowing other events that may come up later in the novel, which do occur when Swede and Reuben get into the brawl and Swede had acted just as the man with the skin bag did in Reuben's dream.
Page 132: "I'd have gotten a goodbye kiss eventually- I could see it coming- except then a figure appeared coming up the walk: not Bethany but an old man in a ruinous corduroy barn coat. A listing bareheaded old man, undone and tattered, untrustful of his feet."
Pg. 132 Response:
This quote is important to the novel because it shows how Reuben has developed a crush on Bethany. Reuben knows that the Lands' journey to find Davy will be long, and he may never return home to Roofing. At the gas station, Reuben dreamed that old Mr. Finch was suffering so deeply as a result of Israel’s death that he has given up on life and has slid into a deep depression.
Page 78: " I'm sorry if you thought better of me, but the fact is I spent whole hours imagining alarming humiliations for these kids-big dumb kids, always, with effortless all-star lungs. Oh, yes, and hours spent thus were not bitter but passed like joyous dreams, in which Bethany Orchard always chanced along to see the dumb kids at their most abject."
Pg. 78 Response:
This quote relates to the novel because it shows how Reuben dreams of having normal, strong lungs which would make Reuben able to participate in more activities. He also dreams about Bethany, and that she will see older children, possibly bullies that might like Bethany in miserable states, in which she would want to date Reuben over them. He believes she would prefer him over others.
page 134: " Having retreated to sleep I snapped from a dream in which Swede's persistent badman Valdez had got into the Airstream and crawled into my bunk."
Page 134 Response: This quote relates to the novel Peace Like a River because it tells of a dream that Reuben had. This dream is most likely a foreshadowing of events to come. Valdez has come to represent an invulnerable evil in the novel as not even the writer of the poems in which Valdez inhabits could kill him. The fact that the "persistent badman" got into bed with Reuben could mean that evil will soon be very close to Reuben. Having read further into the book, one could say that this evil is the severe asthma attack he has in the chapter "The Skin Bag" This picture shows a little girl asleep and having dreams. During dreams, you can be or do whatever you want! You can pursue goals and dreams in life while you are asleep. It is also important to have dreams outside of your sleep. Your dream could be to change the world, to make the career you want to have be your career, or to go to the moon. In Peace Like A River the Lands' dream is to find Davy and move to the west. Anyone can make their dreams real if they just put forth the effort and try!
Discussion Questions:
During one of Reuben's dreams, he dreamt a little man stole his breath. Who do you suppose the man was? I believe that the man represented Reuben's case of asthma. When Reuben had the dream, he woke up with a painful asthma attack. Asthma appearing in the form of a criminal showed how asthma is Reuben's greatest enemy. Asthma stealing Reuben's breath is like a burglar stealing the goods in a person's house.
In Reuben's dream about Bethany and the good-bye kiss, who do you believe the old man was? The old man is Mr. Finch, and this was not a dream.
Do you suppose the men in two of Reuben's dreams could be the same or related to eachother? No, I do not believe that these dreams are connected in any way, shape, or sort.
Dreams
page 183: " I dreamed a devilish man came and stole my breath. He stepped through the door with a skin bag strung limp over his shoulder and with dispassionate efficiency crouched back and slugged me in the stomach."
Page 183 Response: This quote relates to the novel Peace Like a River, for that it has the name of the chapter in the text itself. It also relates because it can also been seen to be foreshadowing other events that may come up later in the novel, which do occur when Swede and Reuben get into the brawl and Swede had acted just as the man with the skin bag did in Reuben's dream.
Page 132: "I'd have gotten a goodbye kiss eventually- I could see it coming- except then a figure appeared coming up the walk: not Bethany but an old man in a ruinous corduroy barn coat. A listing bareheaded old man, undone and tattered, untrustful of his feet."
Pg. 132 Response:This quote is important to the novel because it shows how Reuben has developed a crush on Bethany. Reuben knows that the Lands' journey to find Davy will be long, and he may never return home to Roofing. At the gas station, Reuben dreamed that old Mr. Finch was suffering so deeply as a result of Israel’s death that he has given up on life and has slid into a deep depression.
Page 78: " I'm sorry if you thought better of me, but the fact is I spent whole hours imagining alarming humiliations for these kids-big dumb kids, always, with effortless all-star lungs. Oh, yes, and hours spent thus were not bitter but passed like joyous dreams, in which Bethany Orchard always chanced along to see the dumb kids at their most abject."
Pg. 78 Response:This quote relates to the novel because it shows how Reuben dreams of having normal, strong lungs which would make Reuben able to participate in more activities. He also dreams about Bethany, and that she will see older children, possibly bullies that might like Bethany in miserable states, in which she would want to date Reuben over them. He believes she would prefer him over others.
page 134: " Having retreated to sleep I snapped from a dream in which Swede's persistent badman Valdez had got into the Airstream and crawled into my bunk."
Page 134 Response: This quote relates to the novel Peace Like a River because it tells of a dream that Reuben had. This dream is most likely a foreshadowing of events to come. Valdez has come to represent an invulnerable evil in the novel as not even the writer of the poems in which Valdez inhabits could kill him. The fact that the "persistent badman" got into bed with Reuben could mean that evil will soon be very close to Reuben. Having read further into the book, one could say that this evil is the severe asthma attack he has in the chapter "The Skin Bag"
Discussion Questions: